October 18, 2015
[This report is published by the Green Party of Philadelphia (GPOP) Electoral Operations Working (EOW) Group, for its membership. GPOP EOW Group Report #2 is also being circulated to the GPOP News email list. We hope that GPOP News members will volunteer to work the polls in their neighborhood for Kristin Combs on Tuesday, November 3. Please let us know if you will volunteer, and we will send you future EOW Group Reports.]

According to the motion approved by the GPOP membership on September 30, the EOW Group has three tasks: “recruiting Green Party candidates who will campaign for office; organizing people to work on those campaigns; and building an infrastructure that will be able to win electoral campaigns.”

Task: Recruiting Green Party Candidates
Leading up to the foundation of the EOW Group, we had already contacted several movement organizations (listed in EOW Group Report #1) asking their membership to consider running for office in 2016 as Green Party candidates for PA House of Representatives. We are still willing to approach more organizations suggested by Green Party members.
Our search for candidates has also appeared in the media. It was posted to GPOP News on October 6. You may also find it in the following media venues: Green Party of the U.S., State and Local News, October 7; The Independent Voice, October 5; Philadelphia Free Press, October 6; Lehigh Valley Vanguard, October 5; Philadelphia Public Record, October 8, pages 15, 21; and Green Party of Philadelphia, website, October 8.

Task: Building an Infrastructure to Win Elections
The EOW Group is in the process of building a city wide organization, which will eventually have a Green Party Representatives at every polling place. The infrastructure we need will also have a publicity wing and an information-processing section. This should sound like a big task, because it is.
One might think that every registered Green would have already volunteered to assist Kristin Combs, the Green Party candidate for Philadelphia City Council-at-Large, on Tuesday, November 3. Unfortunately, we have not yet been able to motivate all of our membership. This is where we need more participation from Green Party members. Please call or email today.

We have a lot of good news to report. First, on September 30, the Green Party of Philadelphia (GPOP) membership created the GPOP Electoral Operations Working (EOW) Group – that is us – and this is Report #1 of the EOW Group, of which you are a founding member.

According to the motion approved by the GPOP membership, the EOW Group will have three tasks: “recruiting Green Party candidates who will campaign for office; organizing people to work on those campaigns; and building an infrastructure that will be able to win electoral campaigns.” There is a news release in the works, and you will hear more about that before the end of next week.

Task: Recruiting Green Party Candidates
As you will recall, this working group has already contacted the Philadelphia Area Anti-Drone Network, Food and Water Watch, Philly Regional Anti-War Network and Veterans for Peace Chapter 31, to see if any of their members would be interested in running as a Green Party candidate for PA House of Representatives during 2016. There are other movement organizations we should contact. If you are a member of any of the following, please send me the specific contact information: Action United, DecarceratePA, National Organization for Women, Sierra Club, or any similar group. We should also approach any of the many labor unions that have membership in Philadelphia.

Task: Building an Infrastructure to Win Elections
Right now, our most important job is to recruit volunteers to work the polls on Tuesday, November 3, for Kristin Combs’ campaign for Philadelphia City Council at Large. This is the beginning of a structure that will eventually involve volunteers at every polling place in Philadelphia. We are beginning with seven Green Party Representatives. As you can see, we have a very long way to go. We welcome people to work at the polls who are not Green Party members. It would be excellent, if we could attract Democrats and Independents to work for Kristin Combs’ campaign.

Task: Organizing Campaign Workers
Of course, there is more to winning elections than just working the polls. Right now, we are doing the preparation that will result in a greater vote for Kristin Combs at the divisions where we have volunteers. To this end, we are flyering door-to-door in the divisions mentioned above. We will also arrange for Kristin to visit house parties, if you would like to host one. As for other events, Kristin Combs will speak at GREEN NIGHT OUT on Saturday, October 10. If you would like to participate, please RSVP because seating is limited.

I look forward to including your response, questions, and suggestions in EOW Group Report #2. You may contact me using nwgreens@yahoo.com.

By Chris Robinson
Kristin Combs spoke with members and friends of the Green Party of Philadelphia (GPOP) at Green Night Out on October 10. “I believe that the Green Party should become the political arm of today’s social justice movement,” Combs told her supporters.
She used herself as a prominent example. “I am running for City Council-at-Large in order to save our public schools,” explained Combs. “I am speaking for the Green Party and for the Caucus of Working Educators, a progressive group within the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT).”

Green Night Out is a periodic gathering which is open to the public. Green Night Out is held at Sang Kee Peking Duck House, http://sangkeechinatown.com/. The diners discuss politics while they enjoyed a Chinese feast.

Combs then explained her platform: locally controlled, high-quality public schools; a $15/hour minimum wage; neighborhood revitalization without displacement; strong, independent civilian review over the police; and a green energy hub in Philadelphia’s future. [Please find more information here.]
Kristin Combs is the only remaining LGBT candidate on the City Council ballot. She is a high school teacher whose candidacy has been widely endorsed by labor and progressive organizations, including AFSCME District Council 33, American Postal Workers Union Local 7048, Americans for Democratic Action of SE PA, Caucus of Working Educators of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, Green Party of Philadelphia, Green Party of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Neighborhood Networks, Philly for Change (affiliate of Democracy for America), Socialist Alternative, and Socialist Party USA.

When questioned, Combs explained her strategy to win one of the minor party seats on City Council, “Voters may cast five votes for City Council-at-Large. I am asking voters to ‘Push Button #426 First.’ In that way, they will use one of their five votes to elect an additional, progressive councilperson-at-large — Kristin Combs.”
“I am offering voters a chance to vote with their hearts,” said Combs. “It will be an amazing victory for Philadelphia, to have six progressive Councilpersons-at-Large – rather than just five.” [You may contribute to Friends of Kristin Combs here.]
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Chris Robinson has been a member at large of the Green Party of Philadelphia City Committee since 2011. He can be reached at 215-843-4256 and

March with the Green Party of Philadelphia
Meet at noon at the corner of
51st and Walnut Streets

Join Spiral Q in the 16th annual Peoplehood Parade, an all-ages people-powered tradition/holiday that brings community together to celebrate our past year, tell our stories, and look forward to building a more just and joyous year ahead.

The Peoplehood Parade challenges discrimination in all of its harmful forms. This year’s Peoplehood Parade will pay powerful tribute to the movement for Black lives, and Spiral Q makes this offering as artists in response to this critical moment.

The Green Party of Philadelphia invites you, in all of your creativity and boldness, to move together with Spiral Q in solidarity with this year’s theme.

The Green Party’s Peoplehood Parade contingent will meet at noon at the corner of 51st and Walnut Streets in West Philadelphia.

The Peoplehood Parade will begin at 1:00 pm. It will conclude at Clark Park at 2:00 (a 1.25 mile walk).

For more information, please contact
215-243-7103 and gpop@gpop.org.
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By Chris Robinson.The Green Party of Philadelphia (GPOP) is looking for progressive candidates to run for elected office. In 2016, every seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives will be up for election, and the Green Party wants dynamic candidates on the ballot for voters to consider. This decision to recruit candidates was made at Green Party membership meeting on September 30.
Since 2007 a majority of voters (60 percent, Gallup 2015) have agreed that a third party is needed to challenge the two old parties with new ideas. Greens believe that building a new political party should start in each neighborhood. They are planning to field candidates for PA State Representative who are fed up with the deadlock in Harrisburg. The Green Party will support energetic candidates who are interested in a Green New Deal with jobs for all, free public education from pre-school through state university, investment in renewable energy, and an end to mass incarceration.
“Our call for new political candidates is wide open,” said Hillary Kane, GPOP Treasurer from Cedar Park. “The Green Party is not your typical group of old political hacks. We are interested in young people who are ready to take the plunge into politics, especially women and people of color who are usually excluded by the two corporate parties.”
While meeting at the Calvary Center for Culture and Community in Cedar Park, West Philadelphia, Green Party members created a new Electoral Operations Working Group, which will have three tasks: recruiting Green Party candidates who will campaign for office; organizing people to work on those campaigns; and building an infrastructure that will be able to win electoral offices.
The Green Party is a national political party founded on the four pillars of nonviolence, grassroots democracy, ecological wisdom and social justice.
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Chris Robinson has been a member at large of the Green Party of Philadelphia City Committee since 2011. He can be reached at 215-843-4256 and nwgreens@yahoo.com.
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See:Green Party of the U.S., State and Local News;